OPEC Says Few Years Before Start of Iraq Quota Talks

OPEC, which accounts for 40 percent of global oil supplies, said it will take a few years before talks begin on how to include Iraq’s production quota within the group as the country needs time to raise output capacity, says a report from BusinessWeek.

“Iraq will be accommodated, they will need time before they reach a level where we have to discuss this issue,” said Abdullah El-Badri, secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. “Right now, the production is not really affecting the balance of the market.”

Iraq depends on oil for the bulk of the foreign currency earnings it needs to rebuild the economy. The country produced about 2.3 million barrels of crude a day in September, according to Bloomberg estimates.

The government wants to more than double output and plans to pump 12 million barrels a day within as little as six years.